I gotta say that your grasp of Woodman's personality is top notch! How do you write so well for him? He seems like he'd be hard to write for
thank you for the compliment! :D wood man has been a very interesting writing challenge i've been undertaking for the past two years; I guess answering this ask as I pen the final chapter of to the counsel of fools a wooden bell is appropriate, since otherwise I might forget some of the more salient details.
the narrative voice i use for wood man is a little ponderous and meandering in a way I think suits his easygoing nature, which is a slight departure from my usual writing style (though I suspect it has influenced several of the other fics i've written in the interim, particularly anything that's "cozy" or "fluffy"). it's not quite Catcher in the Rye levels of colloquial slang, but imagining him speaking leaves plenty of room for stuff like, wry asides in the narration itself, and playing a bit loose and conversational with the grammar. he's literally such a chill dude, it would be a crime not to let that seep into the narration. and in general it's more forgiving of contractions and sentence fragments, as long as one can imagine them being spoken in his calm, smokey timbre. :3c writing for wood man has made me realize that ensuring the narration resembles the thinking patterns of the perspective character goes a LONG way toward making the writing feel personal, and specific, and persuasive! which plays into making the rest of the characterization feel authentic.
then, of course, there's his dialogue. trying to write for wood man is honestly a master class in implementing the adage, "never have your character say what he means". he rarely gives straightforward answers to questions, mostly because he thinks it's funny, or he doesn't want to reveal personal information about himself, or he has a hidden agenda. he lives in the moment with a sort of visceral gratitude for sensory pleasure--sunshine, the sound of rain, pleasant music, a good book, good food and drink and company--and he WILL make his satisfaction regarding them known, in the interest of encouraging their future remit: be it with a satisfied sigh or a verbal compliment. wood man knows what he wants (at least in terms of sensory pleasure), and of all the OTHER things he plays close to his chest, he's usually not shy about saying what those things are.
another thing that has really helped drive the narrative and wood man's moment-to-moment choices is the character arc i've given him. i'll happily say more once i've published the final chapter, but paying close attention to wood man's canon behavior reveals some interesting predilections. he lies, cheats, steals, cracks jokes, is naturally curious, and he enjoys sharing stories and knowledge about spirits and the natural world. it's a little funny, how reticent he is about his own nature as... a guy, considering how infodumping about spirits and magical creatures is also his favorite thing. yet he doesn't know everything, either. hilda is the one who summons the draugen for him by whipping up a storm. wood man's idea of a social solution to a problem tends to be tricking someone, not asking for help; luckily hilda (and in my fic, the bell keeper) is there volunteering often enough that wood man doesn't have to.
wood man is, essentially, full of contradictions, and having a long-term narrative end-goal for where i want him to land on that back-and-forth between "unhinged forest cryptid who drinks mud" and "a guy who likes books and drinks tea", while still being mindful that he is very much both of these, tends to steer my hand straight with regard to writing him in a way i'm satisfied with.
thank you so much for this kind ask! answering it was a pleasure. i hope you enjoy the final chapter! :) (coming soon!)
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Animated Things I Watched In 2022, Part 2
I (try to) describe the animated shows I watched in a sentence, but this time for stuff I watched in late 2022
= = =
Inside Job Season 2 (2022)
This season did not go in the direction I thought it was heading, I expected Reagan’s relationship to go in a completely different direction due to the obvious contrast between Reagan’s own parents. What we got was much more bittersweet...
Favorite Episode: “Brettwork”
Hilda Season 1 and 2 (2018 - 2020)
Dunno what else to say than “it’s good” and “watch if you haven’t already”
Favorite Episode: “The Deerfox”
Extra Note: I may have teared up (just a little) because of the above episode
Harley Quinn Season 3 (2022)
Same comment for this show, except I also have to say “thank god this series has survived the purge over at Warner-Discovery”
Favorite Episode: “There’s No Ivy In Team”
The Owl House Season 2 (2022)
Same comment for this show AGAIN, except I have to say “of course Disney execs are coming into ruin a good thing yet again”
Favorite Episode: “King’s Tide”
X-Men (1992-1997)
The artstyle has aged like milk and I wouldn’t call the show “good for its time” when Gargoyles and Batman: The Animated Series are from the same period... but I admit, the show has some high highs, even if it also has some very low lows, and generally isn’t consistent as the those other two shows
Favorite Episode: “Beauty & the Beast”
Extra Note: If voice actor for Fabian Cortez wasn’t so awful, I probably would have put the “Sanctuary” 2-parter as my favorite one in the series.
Niko and the Sword of Light Season 1 (2017)
This show is perfectly fine, it has a good voice cast and a classic setup, I just wasn’t the target audience for this show
Favorite Episode: “From the Sea of Suffering to the Faraway Shore”
Ultimate Spider-Man Season 1 (2012)
Maybe it gets better in the later seasons, but the first season is pretty rough.
The skits, which I didn’t mind, get annoying when they start undermining the serious episodes. You can also tell the writers didn’t want to give Spider-Man a team at all, because they barely explore Spider-Man’s teammates and it feels like they're always sidelined when the main plot is actually happening.
Favorite Episode: “Freaky”
Least Favorite Episode: “Awesome”
Extra Note: Awesome is such a bad episode. Mr. “Great Responsibility” flunks on his science fair project and decides to steal technology from SHIELD to pass off as his project, EVEN THOUGH his principle is literally works for SHIELD and would probably notice stolen SHIELD tech if he saw it
Dead End: Paranormal Park Season 1 and 2 (2022)
It’s hard to call this show a “must watch” when I think all the legitimately good episodes are in the back-half of Season 2 and it’s not clear if there’ll even be a Season 3. I recommend checking out the first few episodes for yourself and seeing if the story and characters vibe with you
Favorite Episode: “My Super Sweet 1600″
Dogs in Space Season 1 and 2 (2021 - 2022)
It’s hard to describe what I don’t like about this show... it’s like this. The cast is very fun and funny in low stakes episodes. But when there are actual stakes, the cast (especially the main character, who is literally named “Garbage”) becomes very frustrating to watch. And the problem is that the writers keep trying to do story heavy episodes instead of sticking to their lane (sorry if this sounds mean but I really preferred the self-contained stuff over the main plot).
I don’t want to completely disregard this show: it’s mostly unknown and it’s not actively terrible. I actually had a lot of fun with Season 1 but I wouldn’t bother with Season 2 since it writes off the best character (Kira) and has a very unsatisfying conclusion.
Favorite Episode: “Paws & Rewind”
I really wish the writing for this show was as good as its animation
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I can't believe. Everyone just FUCKING FORGOT ABOUT HILDA???
My magical nordic adventure show????
Its getting season 3 sometime in 2023 so I'm very excited about that
Going to rewatch it tmrw because I forgor what happens, its been so long.
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ok you guys are either going to love this chapter for all the plotlines that get resolved or i'm going to lose you because wood man feels ooc. it all depends on if i've done a good job selling his existential crisis over the past two years lmao, so here's hoping it makes you all insane!
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